NCAA March Madness 2004 Interview

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Why this is one franchise on the rebound.

By Jon Robinson

Coach K. If you're a college basketball game, that's your benchmark. It was on the Genesis, it only lasted one season, but there you have it, that's your champ. Now here we are, two generations of systems later, and there still hasn't been a college hoops game that stands the test of time like the originator, none greater, call it K for short, basketball game.

The thing is, EA Sports understands that their March Madness series has been underwhelming as of late, but the way they tell it, things are about to change. The buzz is back as they try to capture the college atmosphere, the pageantry, and the play of one of the most exciting times in all of sports.

IGN Sports caught up with the game's producer, Sean O'Brien, to hear about the new game and the direction the series is headed. Here's what he had to say:

IGN Sports: What are you guys doing for Midnight Madness?

Sean O'Brien: We're sponsoring the night at schools like North Carolina, Kentucky, Utah, and Cal, and we put together a video of gameplay for each school to try to get the crowd excited about their teams, which isn't hard to do at those schools, and also get a little bit of exposure for the game. We'll also have a debug with a build at the events as well so kids can get some hands-on time. We also plan to shoot some of those cameos for the beginning of the game as well. So far, we got some at the University of Oregon with the student section called the Pit Crew. Those shots of the Pit Crew going crazy, those are our best ones so far, so we hope to get more footage of hundreds of students hopped up on caffeine and going crazy.

IGN Sports: The March Madness series has been pretty disappointing the last couple of years. Why do you think people should be excited about the 2004 edition?

Sean O'Brien: Why I'm really excited about 2004 is in my mind, I think we've really captured what college basketball is all about. We've taken a huge step forward in that capacity. We understand college basketball is a little more pure, it's a little more traditional toward the sport, and similar to what NCAA Football did, which is include all of the pageantry, the emotion and strategy of college football, that's what we're trying to do with college basketball. For us, that comes down to having everything from authentic arenas, to having student sections in the crowd, to having great looking player models, to having mascots and cheerleaders to add to the environment. With Brad Nesler and Dick Vitale, I don't think you can get a better team to announce. You're getting analysis of the game, you're getting the Dickisms when he's excited, but it's not to the point where you want to turn him off. They'll give you some history of the schools, they'll get you excited about the game, but they don't go overboard. We have over 350 crowd chants, over 135 fight songs, and these are school specific fight songs and crowd chants as we now have over 350 teams in the game. Different things like that that are constantly reinforcing the fact that you're at a college venue. You're not at Madison Square Garden hearing music playing in the background or in Golden State hearing rap music playing in the loud speaker...

IGN Sports: Or pins dropping.

Sean O'Brien: That's for sure. [laughs] My goal for the audio experience is when you get into the game, you actually get chills because you feel like you're at a Duke game. The crowd is going crazy, they're hopping in the background. That's where I'm trying to go with this product. I want to make people feel the energy of the college experience. This also translates into the gameplay because we're focusing in on the fact that these are kids who are playing from 18-22 years old and 98% of these kids will never play another game after their collegiate career other than some beer league. So every time they step on the floor, they're giving 100%. Every single minute of every single game while they're playing, they're giving it their all. We're translating that into different animations where guys are diving on the floor for loose balls, they're setting tough screens, they're playing defense differently than they would in the pros because they're more aggressive, they stay in their stance longer, and they're looking to help out their teammates. The strategy of the game is also something we're trying to make more into a chess match. I think we've done a great job defensively this year. We have man-to-man, full or halfcourt, and zone and press defenses that really changes the way you play the game. If I'm playing against Kentucky for example, who's really an up-and-down team, they press a lot, I really need to inbound the ball and think about what I want to do. I just can't inbound the ball and dribble up court because I'm going to be trapped in the backcourt if I don't make the right decision. Whereas if I'm playing against Syracuse who likes to sit back in the 2-3 zone, I can inbound the ball and bring it up court, but now I have a different challenge. Now it's all about trying to work the ball around the perimeter to find the open three or feeding the pass inside at just the right moment to beat the rotation. Playing against the different defenses is all completely different, and that's what makes the game great. It matters who you are playing as and against, and each match-up will present its own challenges. We wanted to make the game more strategic than the NBA games because this is basketball at its purest form. I played college basketball. I know what it's like to play, to practice, to listen to the coach, and to do it all for the team and not yourself.